Dark Sun Redux
The second edition Dark Sun Campaign was awesome to run, and hopefully as enjoyable to play. The Redux will start with a few modules from Wizards and explore depths of Athas that we never reached the first time. Starting Characters All characters will be first level. When creating a character, set to Dark Sun Campaign, which will allow Dark Sun materials, but blocks other settings (Eberron, etc.) Please make a level one version, and either know what you want to take for levels 2-5, or save a second through fifth level version. These low levels will be used to provide a flavour of Athas. Link to a short description of your character here. All notable characters (PC and NPC) can be found on Dark Sun Characters. Character Creation Rules Races: Mul, Thri-Kreen, Dray (Dragonborn), Dwarf, Eladrin, Elf, Goliath, Half-Elf, Halfling (remember they are cannibals), Human, Tiefling, Genasi, Kalashtar, Minotaurs. NO SUBRACES. Classes: '''PH1-3, Elemental Chaos, Class Compendium '''Theme: '''Only from Dark Sun. The compendium actually has great tips on how to build a character that matches your theme. Most of thoise tips should show up in the Character Builder as suggestions. '''Background: '''Only from Dark Sun. If anyone can tell me how to house rule two backgrounds, let me know and we can have PCs with two backgrounds. '''Wild Talent: Yes, everyone can select one as part of their character creation. Under manage characters check Inherent Bonuses. House Rules Equipment: any weapons must state what it is made of (wood, bone, crystal, obsidian). Athasian weapons and flavour text is encouraged. Most high quality (or maybe even magical) items will have likely have an Athasian theme. Metal armour will cause you to overheat (-5 penalty to Endurance) Arcane powers suck energy from the planet. If you are an Arcane Class, I will pass you the rules. A 1 is a weapon break, unless metal or natural weapons. The latter are unuseable for a turn rather than breaking. Defiling Magic On Athas, arcane magic draws on the vitality of plants, animals, and minor primal spirits. But if a practitioner draws too deeply, the life form fueling the spell might be damaged or destroyed. This act of destruction is called defiling. The greater the spell, the more widespread the damage is. Defiling is a major cause for the worldS’s foul condition. Other power sources do not have this corrupting effect on the environment. An Athasian spellcaster has a choice between defiling and preserving. Defiling is easy and intoxicating, but it destroys or damages the life from which a spell draws power. Preserving is difficult and requires care, and it avoids harming the world around the caster. When you begin as a spellcaster, you might dabble in both arts, or you could let your morals or needs dictate your choices. Eventually, your use or rejection of defiling defines you as a defiler or a preserver. Arcane magic is illegal and can attract hostility, so a spellcaster often needs to conceal its use. When you use an arcane power without using arcane defiling, you can disguise the magic as another type of power, such as primal or psionic. Most people can’t distinguish between types of magic. The Dungeon Master might require a Bluff check to disguise arcane magic when it is performed in the presence of enemies familiar with psionic or arcane power, such as templars, defilers, or nobles. If a spellcaster is defiling, he or she cannot disguise the arcane magic because of the visible effect on the environment. Paragon and Epic Paths Be forwarned, Dark Sun paths are encouraged and will either be enforced or given boons to persuade these choices (TBD). Starting Equipment Basic starting equipment as per character generation, but no metal and no magic. The gods have abandoned you all, and the lands are defiled. Only exception is components. Please also provide me with a treasure list of items level 1-7. Metal versions of items are available, but they add one level to the item. Equipment Magic is rare, but there are many alternative awards, both from source material and unique to the campaign. PC Races To help players understand how Athasian races differ from their breathen elsewhere I have provided short descriptions below. Genasi Also known as half-elementals, genasi typically reside in the depths of the wastelands and on isles in the Sea of Silt. Their elemental nature gives them the ability to endure environmental conditions that other humanoids find intolerable. Most genasi are devoted to the elemental spirits of the wastes, and they bitterly resent defilers, especially the sorcerer kings and agents of those tyrants. Goliath Centuries ago, sorcerer-kings magically combined giant and human stock to breed powerful minions, creating the hardy race of towering warriors known as goliaths (commonly called half-giants). Most sorcerer-kings have hundreds of goliaths in their armies and shower the mighty warriors with luxuries in exchange for their loyalty. Other half-giants become urban thugs or mercenaries. They adopt the culture and traditions of the cities in which they dwell. Over the years, many goliaths have found their way into the untamed reaches of Athas. Wild goliaths are fierce, mountain-dwelling barbarians who raid the people of the lowlands in search of plunder, captives, and prestige. Half-giant tribes are fractious and quarrelsome as a rule; ambitious young warriors challenge established chieftains, and long remembered slights and insults threaten to erupt into deadly feuding. Shamans, druids, and others who wield the power of the elements or nature lie outside the bounds of such disputes and rivalries, and they serve a vital role as peacemakers and advisors. Regardless, a goliath sometimes leaves his or her enemies behind for a few years and seeks out new opportunities else where. After all, returning to the tribe as a wealthy, successful warrior with an impressive train of treasures and captives is the best revenge.Half-giants are often violent and short tempered, but their moods are mercurial. They can pass from frothing rage to gales of laughter in the blink of an eye. Tiefling The people of the desert settlements have much to fear from the wastes. Predators snatch livestock and children, sandstorms destroy homes, and the punishing heat and scarce water make life miserable. However, all these dangers pale before the merciless desert devils that emerge from the night, bent on murder and mayhem. They are remorseless raiders, taking no slaves and leaving no survivors. They are the tieflings, and they are death incarnate. Tieflings are descended from humans who bargained with dark powers for the strength to survive on Athas and destroy their enemies. Most tieflings lurk on civilization’s fringes in nomadic bands, drifting through the wastes in search of victims to rob and kill or hiring themselves out as vicious mercenaries. Small bands sometimes settle in the city-states, where they find work as enforcers, overseers, gladiators, and assassins. In cities where status is determined by personal merit, tieflings can become templars or rise to the nobility. Many tieflings believe that they carry a blood debt the price to be paid for their ancestors’ bargain and face an eternity of torment unless the debt is paid in their lifetime. Some assume that the debt can’t be paid and live in debauchery while they can, whereas others lead lives of virtue in the hope of breaking their patron’s hold. The most dangerous tieflings are those who believe that their debt must be paid in blood, and that each soul they send into death reduces their own burden. Thri-Kreen The insectoid thri-kreen have six limbs and are covered in tough, sandy-colored chitinous plates. Their lowest pair of limbs is used as legs, and their upper pair of limbs serves as arms. The middle set of limbs is small but dexterous, and the thri kreen use them for fine manipulation, leaving heavy work to the stronger upper arms. Both the middle and the upper pairs of limbs have three clawed fingers and one opposable thumb. In combat, thri-kreen hold weap ons or shields in their upper limbs, since the middle pair lacks the strength for this purpose and using both sets of limbs would be awkward and unwieldy. Swift and athletic, thri-kreen are natural climbers and jumpers. Their wedge-shaped heads have large compound eyes, two (mostly vestigial) antennae, and powerful mandibles. They can speak an accented form of Common but prefer their own language, which is easier to pronounce with their mouth parts. Thri-kreen have short life spans and rarely reach 30 years of age. Monsters Details will be released as the PCs discover more about Athas. For now, a simple picture gallery is offered here.